Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Prizza Everyday

My dearest family and the other precious souls who read
these,

Well, my cold heart hurts today to hear the
hard news. I am so sorry for the Coffey family, and I hope they can feel my
love all of the way from Canada. What a kind man Dean is. I don't know why
Heavenly Father needs him now, but how blessed are the heavens to welcome such
an extraordinary man. Dean was always so kind and interested in how my life was
going. So genuine and nice! He never failed to go out of his way to talk to me
when I would see him around town. At Matt's soccer games or at our own house
when he was fixing things up for us. He even came to my farewell. I'll never
forget how kind he is. I never saw him sad, and that is something we all could
be better at. I am thankful to have known him, and all of the Coffey family!
Even their cousins, one of which happens to be one of my best friends. Their
examples and strengh are incredible. Pray for them, comfort them, and mourn
with them. I keep them and you all in my prayers. I never expect things like
this to happen. And it confuses me when they do. But, it's ok. Because I do not
have any doubts that there is a purpose for everything. The Lord's timing is
perfect. And even though we don't always understand it, one day we will. And just
like you said Dad, Katie is right there waiting for him. And Chandler Webb,
Steve Brewster, and Jim Gasik. Once you're a Hegessy ward member, you're always
a Hegessy ward member! The church is a family, here on the earth and in heaven
as well. The Lord blesses us with our ward families for a reason. Cherish the
relationships we can have with other members. We are all here for each other!
It was hard for me to hear about Dean. It just brought up some sad memories.
But how blessed are we to know that they are there together, cheering us on. Do
what you can now to be worthy to see them again. Don't deny yourself that
blessing. I know we can see them again, and I am so thankful for that.
It's been a rough week. An excellent week, like they always are,
but hard too. Sometimes it seems like thing after thing after thing goes wrong,
but for some reason I am still happy. I am convinced that true happiness comes
from sharing the gospel and being obedient. Because there have been a lot of
crazy things going on, and yet, for some reason I am still just so happy. And
the only thing I can actually trace my happiness back to is sharing the gospel.
How blessed are we to know the things that we know. We had a baptism planned
and almost fully figured out for this week, but it doesn't look like it is
going to happen. I was pretty disappointed at first. But one thing I am really
trying to understand, is not the "when" of baptism, but the
"why." I think, yeah the sooner the better, but it has to be when we
are ready. And sometimes as missionaries I think we get a little caught up in
the rush of baptizing because we want to see some numbers. It's not the point.
These are souls, children of a loving Heavenly Father, and not just statistics.
Apostles and prophets say that all of the time, and it is so true. So, with our
investigator, Michael, we are now going to go back and try to understand what
he needs to help him turn his desire for baptism to become more of a desire to
come unto Christ. He has been struggling to give up smoking, but really wants
to be baptized. But the desire to be baptized needs to help him quit. The
desire to be baptized isn't enough, we have to have the desire to change and
follow our Savior, and if he doesn't understand that, then he isn't ready. But I
have faith in him! And in Heavenly Father! This can and will all work out how
it's supposed to, as long as we help him understand his relationship with our
Savior and Heavenly Father, and what baptism actually means for him, and the
importance of making and keeping covenants. Because if he is baptized then
falls away, whose fault is it? We don't want to put someone's salvation in
danger. And if we are truly led by the spirit, we can find out what he needs to
understand, and help him to be better. I understand (not to it's full extent)
how hard it is to quit smoking. It'll take some time. But with the Lord, we
have that time, and we have the support and strength we need.

Something kind of funny happened this last
week. We had a lesson with a lady who is less active. She really loves praying,
so sometimes we'll just be sitting and talking when all of the sudden she'll
just start yelling out prayers. I guess it's cool, it doesn't seem too
reverent, but hey, she loves Heavenly Father and knows that he loves her too,
so I don't mind her sporadic prayer cries. But during our lesson she asked if
we could stop and all just say a prayer, her, then me, then my comp. So this
sister starts, and her prayers tend to be lengthy. She has a really nice old
lady voice too, the kind that makes you want to go to sleep. We were sitting
outside and the weather was nice, and conditions were just perfect for
sleeping. So she starts praying and I think, "sweet, I'll just close my
eyes for a few minutes, enjoy this prayer time, then say my prayer." But I
accidentally started dozing off, and she finished and I was still just sitting
there with my eyes closed and head bowed. Luckily I noticed she had stopped
talking after probably ten super long seconds, and opened my eyes and her and my
comp were just staring at me, so I just closed my eyes and started praying.
Haha we just get in the weirdest situations sometimes... But it was funny and I
think she enjoyed my prayer. After though my comp asked, "what were you
doing?" And I felt bad to say that I was just kinda taking a little nap.
But it was all good.

Something else kind of cool that actually
happened two weeks ago is my comp and I were walking into Wal Mart to buy
something and this guy stops me and asked if I went to school with him. I just
kind of laughed and said, no I am a missionary, I have only lived here for a
few weeks, etc. But anyway, we got to talking and we ended up giving him a mormon.org card with or number, and he called us
the next day! It was so sweet because he set up the appointment. His name is
Lamine and he is about 6'4 two hundred plus pounds. He said he was from Jamaca
(how do you spell that??) and Africa... So I don't know which one is true. But
he is pretty sweet. I was just laughing though because when we went to teach
him the first time we didn't have a member with us, because we didn't know if
he was serious so we didn't want to get stood up and have a member with us. So
anyway, we got to his building and he buzzed us in. But you had to go through a
door and walk down a hall to get to his room. So we climbed the stairs and
looked through the door window down the hall to his room, and there was Lamine,
this giant man. I was kind of scared because he could probably just crush me if
he wanted to. But my comp said, "we are going, he is a child of God and we
will be protected!" So we went and talked to him, but since it was just us
three we had to go to outside. So we went outside and walked to a park. It was
probably a hilarious sight to see. I kept laughing secretly because I thought
to strangers looking at us we probably looked so funny. Just me, my comp, and
Lamine. He knows a lot though. It's pretty cool to talk with him. But, we've
only had two lessons so far. Hopefully he starts understanding things and comes
to church with us! We invited him but he went to Novelle Vie instead. Lame.....

We had to break up with an investigator last
week. It was pretty sad, but she isn't all that interested and we didn't want
to keep bugging her. Missionary work really is like relationships. Sometimes
people say you get and keep investigators just like you'd get and keep a
boyfriend. I don't know if it's the exact same, but breaking up with
investigators was sad like breaking up with boyfriends is. I assume.. I
can't remember if I have ever broken up with anyone. I usually just let them go
on missions and that takes care of it for me. Just kidding, that sounds really
terrible. I don't know why I am telling you all this. So anyway......

I am glad that things are going well at home
and school is getting goin for the dudes and you are all safe. Right now things
are tough, I understand, believe me I do. But, read 1 Nephi 3:7, it's one you
all know. It has taken on a whole new meaning for me here. Sometimes I think,
"why are things like this Heavenly Father? This is too hard, why are you
asking me to do this. I am just Suzy, I can't do it." Well of course,
"just Suzy" can't do it. But I have my Savior on my side, as you all
do. And like 1 Nephi 3:7 says that the Lord does not give any commandmants or
he doesn't ask anything of us, save he has already prepared a way for us to
achieve what he has asked. Don't quit. Don't turn your back on what you know to
be true because you think it is too hard or impossible. Take the Lord's yoke
upon and give him your weaknesses. Let him make you stronger. And even if we
don't have a distinct path that says, "here this is the way I provided for
you to accomplish the hard thing!" Trust in the Lord and use the atonement.
It's here for us. And perhaps that simply is the path, or the way that he has
prepared. Just putting trust in our Savior can get us through anything. Some of
you may think I am wrong, but the only thing I have to say to that is, where is
your faith?

Snoopswag is signing off. Keep your heads up
and your hearts open. The world is a good place, keep making it better. I love
you and miss you dearly. But like after a mission or after someone's time on
earth, we will all see each other again. If you're worthy, it's a promise. Ok I
love you all! Someone eat some pizza for me because I've been craving it
lately. Prizza everyday!!!

Suzy's address in Canada:

Sister Suzy Kinghorn

Suzy has been called to serve in the Canada Montreal Mission - French speaking! This blog will record her adventures as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

O Canada!

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."